Talk To The Skull: Aldin Dynamics aims to change the face of VR gaming

Gaming offers players the chance to do the impossible: to roam fantastical worlds, defy gravity, use magic and travel between stars. But even virtual worlds have limits. Most often, gaming involves looking at a screen and interacting via a controller, mouse, or keyboard — placing limits on the potential for true player expression.

Aldin Dynamics is an Icelandic game studio that’s challenging those limitations. Their flagship game is a virtual reality title called Waltz of the Wizard, and it aims to move the goalposts for what video game interactivity can mean.

“It’s a sandbox simulation of a fantasy world,” says Hrafn Þórisson, Aldin’s CEO. “We imagined what it would be like to visit a fantasy world and be a wizard. The game aims to give you the feeling of actually having magical powers in a semi-serious, semi-fun way.”

Finger clicking good

Donning a VR headset, Waltz of the Wizard players are free to roam a tower and a courtyard filled with hundreds of interactive objects. Using their virtual hands, they can mix potions, pick up and throw objects, battle enemies in creative ways and cause all kinds of magical mischief.

They can also speak out loud to a floating assistant called Skully, who responds and replies in real time. “Skully will understand things the player does,” says Hrafn. “Like giving them the finger, or asking about magical powers. So you can say: ‘when I snap my fingers, make things explode.’ And then you actually snap your fingers and things around you will explode.”

This also allows players to modify the game using only their voice. “You can create a ball that is super bouncy, then throw it at an enemy,” says Hrafn. “You can make the enemies float, or make their voices more high pitched, or throw fireballs at them. And it all happens immediately, with instant feedback.”

Living technology

Allowing for so many possibilities is a big job, so Aldin are looking at ways that new and emerging technologies can help fill the gaps. “We’ve built a toolset to analyse how players physically move and behave, and what they say and do,” says Hrafn. “But what we’re really excited about now is AI. It’s possible to leverage AI to actually generate what’s missing.”

Hrafn thinks AI has huge potential to broaden the range of in-game actions. “We’re at a very exciting point in time,” he says. “In terms of leveraging these AI technologies, we’ve barely seen that start yet in gaming. Most of what’s been done so far is text-based and doesn’t take into account things like where you’re looking, or what you’re saying, or your gestures. So that’s where we are now — prototyping ways to produce a living creature, basically.”

VR for grandma

The level of expressivity on offer has made Waltz of the Wizard something of a showcase for the potential of VR games, with players taking to TikTok to share the moments of emergent hilarity that ensue.

“It’s driven by that idea of characters that respond to whatever the user does,” says Hrafn. “People use the game to show their friends what VR is capable of. We’ve been developing new mechanics that are specifically focused on showing what things you can do with VR that you can’t with a mouse or keyboard. So it’s become a popular way to show your grandma what VR is all about.”

Elevating experience

This appeal has helped the game to sell hundreds of thousands of copies. A recent update entitled Skully’s Unruly Reactions added a raft of new possibilities, giving players a reason to experiment further. “Our rough estimate is that it takes five to eight hours to try everything,” says Gunnar Steinn Valgarðsson, Aldin’s co-founder and CTO. “But many players play a lot longer than that. The sandbox element means you can just keep going and there are easter eggs you can’t discover unless you play for a long time.”

Aldin plans to continue giving players even more to do. And with VR headsets becoming more affordable and popular — even outselling Microsoft’s flagship Xbox console—they also have an eye on what’s coming next.

“We want to leverage this medium to elevate human experience,” says Hrafn. “That sounds like a high-flying idea, but there’s potential to unlock things that humanity has wanted to do since we were drawing on cave walls. It gives us the ability to experience anything, and share anything.” Gunnars nods in agreement, adding: “And to make it meaningful.”

Ready, Player One? Explore the latest developments — and developers — in Iceland’s gaming industry.